Wristbands are customarily made up of flexible sections separated by an intermediate expander assembly together with connectors at opposite ends of the flexible sections which can be snap-connected to the casing of a watch. In certain cases, when it is desired to add decorative accessories to the watch, such as, jewelry items between the ends of the flexible section and watch, the flexible sections must be shortened and also provided at their ends with a quick but positive means of fastening the jewelry or watch tips as they are customarily referred to in the trade. Generally in the past this has been done by spring-loaded pins; also, spring retainers have been devised to form spring-type closures of the type in which a leaf spring element is normally biased into a closed position against the return portion of a generally hook-shaped end and can be depressed away from the return portion to permit insertion of a bar or pin past the spring. However, spring retainers of this type in the past have generally been subject to weakening and misalignment so as not to form a proper closure under repeated use.
Expander sections have been employed in the past as a bridge between portions of the flexible sections to facilitate placement and removal of the watchband on the wrist without necessity of expanding the flexible sections. A type similar to that of the present invention employs hinged together arcuate plates which in the closed position are normally collapsed against the underside of a clasp, one end of a plate being adjustably attached to the clasp by a spring-loaded pin having opposite ends releasably inserted into aligned openings in side channels formed on the clasp. Similarly, one of the flexible sections is releasably attached to another pair of aligned openings in the clasp by a spring-loaded pin. A drawback of the expander sections now in use is the manner of snap connecting the arcuate plates in the closed or collapsed position which limits adjustability of the flexible sections, making it difficult to have the same effective length of sections and be symmetrical with respect to the entire band.